Mercedes duo set for tense battle for F1 supremacy

Peter McKay

Yes, the Bahrain Grand Prix was an interesting, at times exciting, motor race with standout performances from Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, who fought ferociously though fairly to their one-two finish.

We also saw an aggressive charge from 13th to fourth by Daniel Ricciardo, besting his world champion Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel in the process.

After so much criticism of the new regulations and in particular the lack of noise made by the F1 cars, Mercedes team director Paddy Lowe said the thrilling race provided validation of the new fuel-efficiency regulations and technology. “But at the same time the spirit of racing is still there.”

While the Silver Arrows are the dominant cars for the moment, what we’re facing is an increasingly tight and tense battle between Rosberg and Hamilton for the world championship devoid of overt team orders.

It’s all quite civil at present but watch the aggro crank up as the season unfolds. Hamilton has already suggested that the two are likely to have closer tussles because they each pore over the other’s data.

So what is there not there to like? For starters, the world’s premier motor racing formula still absurdly persists in directing punishments at the wrong targets.

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In the opening two grands prix, Ricciardo was quite unfairly penalised for infractions made by his team (the fuel flow in Melbourne, and the unsafe release with a loose wheel in Sepang).

Surely, if the driver does nothing to gain an advantage or does nothing dangerous, the penalty should not apply during the race.

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In the two cases concerning Ricciardo, Red Bull should have been penalised by a points drop (which would affect the constructors championship and the end-of year payout).

To penalise Ricciardo 10 grid spots for something in which he had no part is ridiculous. Yet another driver, Pastor Maldonado, speared into the side of an innocent rival, dangerously tipping him on his head, and got a mere five-grid penalty. How? Why?

'DOPEY' NOT SO FINE

Australia’s oldest driver in V8 Supercars, Russell Ingall, smarting from a fine of $15,000 ($10,000 suspended unless he re-offends), is surely likely to be more measured the next time someone asks him to comment on officialdom when he is still hot and bothered.

Ingall, who revels in the tag of The Enforcer, was enraged when hit with a pit-lane drive-through penalty in the closing stages of last weekend’s first race of the Winton 400 after his Commodore banged and turned around David Wall’s Falcon.

On the surface, Ingall was at fault. Do the crime, do the time.

The timing wasn’t good, though. The veteran was on track for a rare podium until the penalty put him out of contention.

But then Ingall continued the spray: “It’s all right for these peanuts to sit up in that ivory tower of theirs and just hand out punishments like that.

“I’d like to drag those guys down in front of the fans to see what they thought. They’d kick the shit out of them.”

It’s never smart to suggest violence towards officials.

Ingall insisted that the incident with Wall should not have drawn an immediate penalty but should have been considered after the race, and applied retrospectively.

A man with a keen appreciation of the value of a dollar, Ingall quickly dipped into mea culpa mode, but the damage had been done. His hip pocket was at serious risk.

Confederation of Australian Motor Sport stewards belted him with the hefty fine for bringing the sport into disrepute.

Fans offered to contribute to pay his fine but Ingall, via Twitter, encouraged them to donate instead go to Ronald McDonald House. Ingall said his engineer’s baby girl had been in hospital for nine weeks “doing [it] tough”. That’s winning back respect in 140 characters or fewer.